ALEXANDER G. PATTERSON, than whom there is no more prominent, better-known or more highly-respected citizen in West Finley township, is a native of this county, born in Donegal township in 1819. His father, William Patterson, a native of Ireland, came to America when twenty-one years of age, and settled on the farm whereon our subject now resides. He married Miss Nancy Gordon, a native of Washington county, daughter of Alexander Gordon, whose birthplace was in the land of Scott and Burns. To this union eight children were born, as follows: Grace, wife of James Moss; Eleanor, who died unmarried at the age of sixty; Alexander G.; Jane, wife of Braddock Dinsmore, at present residing in Missouri; Samuel, unmarried (since the death of his sister Nancy he travels the greater part of his time); Catherine, deceased in her girlhood; Nancy, deceased at the age of fifty-six, unmarried, and William, died when twelve years old. Alexander G. Patterson received his education at the subscription schools of the locality of his birth, and received on his father's farm a through practical training in the art of agriculture. When Alexander was twelve years of age his father died, leaving a large family of children to be cared for by their widowed mother, and much of the work fell upon our subject, whose willing hands did not a little toward the support of his mother and little brothers and sisters. The habits of economy and industry thus early acquired soon became a second nature to him, and were regarded as characteristic of him by his many friends of later life, by whom he was held in high esteem. Mr. Patterson was married in 1854 to Nancy J. Nickson, who was born in Washington, Penn., in 1828, a daughter of William and Mary (Lingafelter) Nickson, of Washington county, Penn., and two children have been born to their union, viz.: William, born in 1859, married Stella Armstrong, and they have one child named Wray Grayson; and Catherine, who married Milton Armstrong, and had five children: Maude Ethel, born in 1881; Grace Gordon, born in 1883; Frank Patterson, born in 1886 (who died at the age of five years); Mary Irene, born in 1888; and Blanche Lenore, born in 1891. Mr. Patterson has lived upon the same place for seventy-four years, and has had a most successful career, having, from almost nothing at the start, accumulated, by industry and judicious economy, a considerable amount of valuable property, which is still left him, after giving both his children a handsome "sendoff" in life. In his political preferences Mr. Patterson is a Republican, but is not an active party man. In religious faith the Pattersons are Presbyterians.

Text taken from page 646 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Jack McNatt of Valrico, FL as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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